Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

"If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission" (1 Corinthians 9:16-17, NRSV).

Isaiah 40:21-31
A reading from the "opening salvo" of "Second Isaiah" — a prophecy to Judean exiles in Babylon that their God is sovereign in all the earth and will continue to sustain, support, restore, and lift up God's servants.

1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Paul writes that he "can't not" share the gospel, and so has no basis for boasting about his commitment to his ministry. He also decribes his strategy of "identification" with others, of coming alongside them and seeking to connect with them as they are.

Mark 1:29-39
Mark recounts, in almost breathless fashion, Jesus' intensive ministry of healing and exorcism in Capernaum, his withdrawal for prayer, and his determination to move out into the other Galilean villages to proclaim the nearness of the kingdom of God (see Mark 1:14-15).

Today is the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. This period of Sundays in Ordinary Time concludes next week with The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18.

This Season after Epiphany models for us the course of Christian life, from baptism to glorification, with our call, response and engagement in the mission of God in this life in between. Last week, we focused on the ministries of deliverance. This week, we focus on ministries of healing and evangelism.

While Boy Scouts offers a full liturgy for this day in their calendar, it may be better to celebrate that liturgy at a later time to avoid the Sunday morning gathering from becoming dominated by Scout-centered concerns rather than the purpose of this day and its texts in the Christian calendar. It would be quite appropriate to include Scouts as acolytes and servers and to pray for scouting programs and these scouts as part of the prayers of the people in the regular Sunday morning gathering.

Next Sunday is also the Sunday nearest Valentine’s Day (February 14). Consider offering a blessing for couples as part of the prayers or an as act of response to the Word in addition to other elements on Transfiguration Sunday. This might include a reaffirmation of marriage vows for those who are married (see The United Methodist Book of Worship, 135 ff.) as well as prayers with laying on of hands for all who identify themselves as couples, seeking God’s blessing as they seek to honor each other and God in their relationship and discern whether they may enter the marriage covenant. See UMBOW 537 for a prayer for persons who are engaged. Consider modifying this prayer (deleting the second to last line) for those who may not yet be engaged.

This may seem an odd thing to do. Prepare for Lent? Isn’t Lent its own season of preparation?

It certainly is. But all too often among Protestants in the U.S., at least, we have treated Lent as an extended Ash Wednesday or Holy Week, focusing on self-reflection, confession of sin and spiritual disciplines for our own sake, individually.

The primary purpose of Lent, however, as we announce on Ash Wednesday, is not self reflection, but a time in which we as a whole congregation come alongside people to prepare them for baptism, for reconciliation, or for taking significant next steps in discipleship and ministry in Christ’s name. While we certainly engage spiritual disciplines and self-denial as we do so, we do not do these things solely for ourselves as if Lent were some sort of personal spiritual marathon. We engage these disciplines more intensely for the sake of others on their intensive journeys of preparation.

Put another way, in Lent, the whole church becomes midwife for new life to be born or renewed among us.

And to be an effective midwife, we do need to prepare!

The first three weeks of this season after Epiphany have helped us get in touch with what it means to be baptized and called as disciples, and have prompted us to call others.

This last week and today focus on ministries that disciples of Jesus engage in, as Jesus himself did and still does—deliverance, prophecy, healing, and evangelism.

Next Sunday marks the Transfiguration of Jesus, where we and those we are now inviting to join us for further preparation during Lent can see our destiny with the Risen Lord and renew our calling in ministry in this life.

Whom will you as a congregation and individually be coming alongside intentionally this Lent? What do you need to be doing now to be ready to start doing that later this month, just one and a half weeks from now? Are there practices of prayer, fasting, or searching the Scriptures you may need to get a “running start” on now so you can be ready to share them effectively with others in the weeks to come?

Consider, too, preparing yourselves as a congregation musically. Your choirs or praise teams have already started! Plan to learn one new song for Lent each of the next three weeks, or at least sing one Lenten song each week, starting today.

An added bonus: By making such clear preparations for Lent starting now, you also create an effective segue between your current worship series and the worship series you will experience beginning on Ash Wednesday. It will no longer be or feel like “that was the Season after Epiphany, this is Lent” as if the two had nothing to do with each other. Instead, you will help your congregation experience the evangelical flow of the Christian year as it is intended, and not only in worship, but in the rhythms of their lives of discipleship as well.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?... The LORD gives power to the weakened, strength to those worn-out” (Isaiah 40:28-29).

This line from today’s reading from Isaiah is the primary reason this larger text from Isaiah is paired with today’s gospel reading from Mark. It is exactly what we see Jesus doing as he continues to inaugurate the kingdom of God in the midst of the people in Capernaum and, in the process, trains his disciples (and us!) to be ready to do the same.

Simon Peter’s mother–in-law was weakened by illness, and Jesus visited and healed her. Her power restored, she was able to prepare a meal for Jesus and all his disciples that night. (Mark 1:30-31).

Crowds of people afflicted and worn down by many diseases and demons began crowding around the house later that evening, seeking a cure. And Jesus gave it, strengthening them anew. (Mark 1:33-34).

When Jesus left the house and the town before sunrise next morning, and his disciples wondered why, he told them he and they were heading out to make sure people in the surrounding towns and villages both knew and could hear the message of the coming of God’s kingdom. (Mark 1:35-38)

That is exactly what he and they did—proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out more demons—so that everyone there could know, and everyone there could hear (Mark 1:39).

This is the work of Jesus. And it is our calling as his disciples to join him in it, that everyone may know, everyone may experience and everyone may receive the good news that God’s kingdom has drawn near.

We encountered the ministry of deliverance from demons last week. If you need to review any of that in worship today, by all means, do. But this week focuses on the two other ministries that figure most prominently in today’s reading—evangelism (getting the word out that God’s kingdom has come near) and healing (offering others the healing power unleashed because God’s kingdom has drawn near).

This is a day to be bold and proud about the panoply of ways evangelism and healing are happening in Christ’s name and the Spirit’s power.

There are strong, effective church-based resources all around you, ready to equip and train folks in your congregations for the ministries of evangelism and healing that are our calling as disciples of Jesus. Some in your congregation may already be involved in one or more of these.

How are people where you are being trained in evangelism? And then how are they getting the word out that God’s kingdom has drawn near? (Discipleship Ministries has some excellent resources and training, starting here: http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/evangelism).

And how are people where you are being trained in healing? (Stephen Ministry is one excellent resource). What process do you or others around you have in place to prepare people to lay hands, pray, and anoint with oil for healing (James 5:16)? A number of Episcopal churches have found support for this through the Episcopal Healing Network. Is there a parish nursing program in your congregation or community? See the International Parish Nurse Resource Center and UMCOR’s Parish Nursing Site for guidance and support. How are you engaged in health-care ministries and in advocacy work to improve health care and access to health care where you are? A local Community Health Center may be a great first contact to find out how you can get involved effectively where you are. Your General Board of Church and Society can also provide much helpful guidance on effective advocacy. And of course, Christians who are actively engaged in the whole panoply of health-care ministries, from EMTs and nurse’s aids to neurosurgery, from dentistry to podiatry, from pediatrics to geriatrics, from opthamology to psychiatry can all provide lots of insight about how the Holy Spirit empowers and uses them in ministries of healing and can use more of us.

Invite people from one or more of these places, as well as people in your congregation who are already effectively engaged in ministries of evangelism or healing, to talk with your worship planning team about how they were trained, discipled, in these ministries and how they experience themselves as disciples of Jesus when they offer them. Maybe this becomes a video you show in worship, a formation hour, in small groups, or on your website. Or maybe you invite one or two of these folks to share a brief testimony live in worship. Or maybe you host an evangelism and healing ministries training fair before or after worship. Or offer any combination of the above.

And strongly consider making use of the Service of Healing offered in our Book of Worship today.

Whatever you do in worship today, remember who you are as the baptized disciples of Jesus, and both celebrate and pray for the ministries of evangelism and healing already in your midst and that the Spirit will continue to stir up among you as you follow Jesus together.

Epistle Stream: Getting the Church Ready (to Surround Others with a Community of Love and Forgiveness), 3

Ready to Respond Contextually

Some Christians in Corinth wanted to know whether apostles should charge for their services. In earlier verses (starting in 9:1), Paul argues that yes, indeed, he and other apostles have full right to expect others to cover their living expenses, and maybe a bit more. He and others have come to provide spiritual blessing to the people. But to do this, they also need to eat and have shelter, at the very least. If you don’t muzzle an ox while it’s treading the grain, so it can have a bit to eat as it works, why would you even think about not providing at least the basics for those who have come to work among you to proclaim the gospel and teach the way of life in Jesus (verses 1-12)?

While they were in Corinth, however, Paul and his companion Barnabas had freely chosen not to exercise their right as apostles. This is why they worked as tentmakers in the mornings to cover their living expenses, freeing them up to focus on teaching, discipling, and preaching in the afternoons and evenings. That was a choice they made, not to show they were superior to others, but, as their first pastors, if you will, to give them an example of what it means to engage ministry contextually—becoming all things to all people that by all means they might save some (verse 22).

That was the point.

The culture of Corinth was almost completely foreign to Paul and Barnabas. They could both speak Greek, so they could get along in the language. But they knew no one there, nor how the culture worked, nor even how business was actually transacted. So they set themselves up in business, as tentmakers in Corinth, both to earn some money, but more importantly so they could immerse themselves in the daily life of the average worker/trader in that place. With this lived experience, which continued for the eighteen-plus months they were there, they were learning what it would mean to proclaim the gospel and teach people how to live the way of Jesus right where they were, in Corinth itself. Only by doing this could they hope to be effective founders of the new Christian community there—because by the time they would leave (and they both knew they would), this new community would have to have learned how to live the way of Jesus right there in Corinth—with all its particular blessings and challenges-- themselves.

Paul and Barnabas focused on learning and operating in that context because this is exactly where the new Christians in Corinth would have to do the same.

The new Christians in Corinth couldn’t presume to approach their neighbors of very different background as if they had all the answers and their neighbors had nothing. They, too, couldn’t presume to be “the experts.” They too, would have to come alongside their different neighbors. And to do that, they’d have to keep learning all of the dramatically varying contexts of their neighbors as they interacted together in multicultural and international Corinth.

For those of us who live in “western” and “professionalized” cultures, and at the same time increasingly diverse cultures, this is our challenge as well. It will take some diligent practice on our part to shift from “being the experts” to “coming alongside,” to shift from “giving the answers” to “becoming all things for all people.” But this is what we do that by all means we may be involved in saving some.

So where are the places in the cultural settings folks in your congregation already inhabit that they can learn how to come alongside others—to be all things to these others that they may by some means be part of their salvation? Talk about this in your worship planning team, and be sure to include images of such places from your local setting in worship today.

Consider how your planning for worship today can help people both become aware of their need and the opportunities available to support them in making this shift. Start talking now in your worship planning team, as well, what else you may put into place between now and the beginning of Lent (less than two weeks!) so that more people in your congregation have had some practice in “coming alongside” those you will be walking with during that season of baptismal preparation.

BOW 479 (Isaiah, 1 Corinthians), preceded by an invitation and followed by a pardon or words of assurance.

Or this:Presider: Let us confess our sin and faithlessness to God and to each other:

All: God, our creator and redeemer,
you never grow weary or faint
but we have doubted your will or ability to care for us.
We have said, "My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God"?
We have let anxiety to consume us
and we have let fear paralyze love for the poor and lonely.
Forgive us for holding to our doubt.
Free us to walk in faith
and the strength of your mercy,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

(silent reflection)

Presider to the people:
Hear the good news:
"Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint."

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

People to the presider: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

Prayer of Thanksgiving if there is no Communion:
Consider inviting brief offerings of thanksgiving for healing, strength found, life restored, faith renewed, experiences of compassion, and sensitivity from others.

Dismissal With Blessing:

A deacon or assisting minister/layperson could dismiss the people using BOW 559 and the pastor speak the blessing using BOW 561 (2nd item) or UMH 669.

TFWS 2281, "May You Run and Not Be Weary" (Isaiah), inviting the people to turn to one another and sing this blessing to others.

During the month of February, the United Methodist Church calls upon its congregations to remember and celebrate Black History. Rather than picking one Sunday to focus on the rich resources brought to the church by our Black brothers and sisters, or offering a sermon series as an alternative to the lectionary, my goal this year, especially in light of the nationwide struggle for equality, representation, and protection under the law that has tragically come under the national spotlight over the last few years (and especially 2014) is to encourage you to speak to this issue and invite conversation in your congregation and community all through the month of February. Toward that end, I have invited a guest contributor to write the Lectionary preaching helps for the entire month of February. I hope that you will find this author’s perspective insightful and stimulating as you preach a bold and prophetic word over these four weeks.

Gennifer Benjamin Brooks is the Director of the Styberg Preaching Institute and is the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Preaching at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. She is an ordained elder and full clergy member of the New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. She has served local churches in the New York Conference in rural, suburban, urban and cross-racial settings. She was the Assistant Dean of New Brunswick Theological Seminary from 1996-2000 and an adjunct professor in the area of Preaching and Worship at New Brunswick Seminary from 2001-2003.

Dr. Brooks holds a Bachelor of Business, cum laude, and a Master of Business Administration from Pace University, a Master of Divinity, summa cum laude, and a Doctor of Ministry from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Liturgical Studies from Drew University.

She is the author of Good News Preaching: Offering Good News in Every Sermon (Pilgrim Press, 2009) and Praise the Lord: Litanies, Prayers and Occasional Services (CSS Publications, 1996). She has been a contributor to the following texts: Companion to The Africana Worship Book (Discipleship Resources 2007), Zion Still Sings: For Every Generation (Abingdon Press, 2007), The Africana Worship Book for Year C (Discipleship Resources, 2008), Those Preaching Women: A Multicultural Collection (Judson Press, 2008), Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford Press, 2009). Dr. Brooks has also contributed to several publications including Homily Service (The Liturgical Conference), and The African American Pulpit (Generis). She is a member of the cademy of Homiletics, the North American Academy of Liturgy, and the American Academy of Religion.

I hope that you will find Dr. Brook’s perspective and candor inspiring as you prepare to preach a bold and prophetic word over these next four weeks. If you have questions or comments about these notes or other content on preaching, please direct them to me, Dr. Dawn Chesser, Director of Preaching Ministries at Discipleship Ministries, [email protected]

February, the shortest month of the year, has been designated as appropriate to the celebration of the historical contributions of Black people or African Americans in these United States. The very fact that it is necessary to single out a particular people speaks of the hegemonic reality within which those so identified live out their lives in societal systems that have yet to recognize their equality as full persons, made in the image of God, as is every human person.

We come to this year's celebration with evidence of that hegemony still visibly present in the continued protest of the recent and continued killings of young Black people that go unrecognized by many in authority as worthy of a response that evidences justice for the victims. Additionally, the complicity of the Christian church with the many injustices that prevail in both the U.S. and global societies is a reality that should not be dismissed if the church intends to be truly the people of God and claim its prophetic voice.

This is part of the backdrop that must be included in the context to which the preacher responds as he or she engages the preaching texts that have been selected for inclusion in the Lectionary for this month, and perhaps for every month, every Sunday, every experience of worship in the name of Jesus Christ. Every sermon should be developed to offer transformative good news within a particular congregational context. During February, consideration of Black History Month, and especially the challenges of Black people in the United States should be an important element of the preaching context regardless of the physical, cultural, or social location of the congregation.

In this first chapter of Second Isaiah, the prophet begins by offering a word of hope to an exiled, hopeless people. The prophet knows the situation of the people, may have even lived through the trials of exile and destruction of a society that was part and parcel of their capture by foreign powers. Not only has their society and culture been taken hostage and destroyed, but they have also forgotten the history that enabled the people of Israel to claim their identity as the chosen of God. Babylon had not only destroyed their community, but with the destruction of their temple, their place of worship, the location that represented their connection to God, the God of their ancestors, their captors had put the first nail into the coffin that would bury their faith. For these exiled people, their reality had led them to doubt both the presence and the power of YHWH.

To their minds, the gods of Babylon have prevailed, and in fact YHWH has withdrawn from them and at best sits at a distance, unconcerned with the reality of their situation – one of destruction, devaluation, decay, and death – of life, as they once knew it and also of their hopes and dreams. Being a people subject to the vagaries of a culture and society not their own put them in a place that saw them as subordinate, of less than equal worth to the people who had captured them. Even their humanity is in question because their God is in question. For Israel, injustice is the order of the day, and the prophet who brings the message of restoration from God has a difficult task. The people are too downtrodden and dejected to hear the words and to believe that God is either present with them, cares about their situation, or offers a believable promise. In their own eyes, they are a people without value; their captors have decried their humanness and over generations of captivity, they have come to accept the prevailing notion that they are less than those who wield power over them, who have determined what value, if any, is to be placed on their lives.

The prophet understands the plight of the people; has probably lived the life of his community and knows the challenge of leading the people back to a place of belief, of trust, of faith in God. The people have forgotten their history, and the prophet believes that the beginning point of their total restoration is memory. Within memory lies hope as the people are challenged to remember their history and most importantly the working of God in creation and in the lives of their ancestors. Not only does memory bring hope, but it also revives faith. First of all the power of God in creation is described poetically but realistically to people who lived closely to the earth and who looked to the heavens as the dwelling place of the eternal one. The prophet also reminds them of God’s liberating power that brought their ancestors out of the situation of captivity and slavery in an earlier time. These reminders by the prophet are meant to encourage faith in the hearts of these captive people.

This text is often heard at funerals. In fact, I have even used it during my time in the pastorate and the focus in most cases has been placed on the last four verses, in an attempt to encourage the grief-stricken congregation to believe in God’s sustaining power as a source of comfort. But the directive of the text has also to do with restating or even reframing the substance of our faith. Who is this God that we serve? Why is God worthy of our faith? In the midst of life that seems hopeless, one where our dreams continue to be unrealized or have been destroyed, how do we trust in divine care when God seems absent? As stated earlier, within memory, there is hope. The text makes clear that God is far beyond humanity with respect to both power and presence. God is the creator of all things “great in strength, mighty in power.” God is the everlasting source of power omnipotent, omniscient and above all, to the benefit of humanity, compassionate and caring of God’s creation.

It is this all-powerful God who not only gives life to the people that the prophet of every time presents to the people as worthy of worship and faith. The prophet Isaiah reminds Israel and us that there is no comparison between the God of creation and the gods of the earth. That message is as true today as it was for those exiled people of Israel. The gods of the earth deal in oppression and injustice as their source of power, but YHWH, the God of creation, our God of redemption empowers those who are weak. Our God comes with the promise of freedom for those in captivity to the powers of this world, whether as oppressors or as oppressed. God gives strength to the faint, the faint-hearted, the downtrodden and those who tread on others as a way of proving their invulnerability. The strength that God gives trumps whatever the world has to offer so that there can be greatness that depends on the true source, God and God alone. And that is the good news that is worthy of being preached from this text.

For many in the Black community in the United States, the situation of Israel has many symbolic parallels. Theirs is a history of a people who were stolen from a homeland that many generations would never see again, taken into captivity under the rule of powers that stripped them of their culture, society, and even life itself. They suffered abuse and death at the hands of their captors, and that suffering continued beyond slavery through Jim Crow laws and the fight for civil rights. More recently, that suffering has been experienced in the breakdown of Black life, financially, culturally, through lack of proper education, unemployment, poverty, and mass incarceration to name a few, and the general demeaning of Black life and the humanity of Black people. A popular slogan in the recent protests says, “All life matters and Black life matters.” And although the celebration of Black History Month does not often reach deeply into the history of the contributions of African Americans, the idea of memory leading to hope espoused by Second Isaiah is one that could be claimed or reclaimed by U.S. society and the Christian church and could perhaps help to make a difference in society’s understanding of the humaneness of Black people and almost certainly help current and new generations of Black people to stand up for justice for themselves and for all people. The preacher that approaches this text within the context that connects to Black History Month cannot but speak out against the injustice that prevails in society. That leads naturally to a call to the congregation to live a life of justice through their faith in Christ, who gives new life and offers total life to all people.

How often in the course of our pastoral ministry do we find it necessary to proclaim the source of our authority or to justify our right to be a leader in Christ’s church? As a Black clergywoman, the challenge to my pastoral authority was often and varied during my thirteen years in pastoral ministry. And this text has been a source of encouragement to me and perhaps to other pastors, whether women or minorities, as we face the challenge brought by others. But that is not the only piece of encouragement that this text provides. Like Paul, I was a second-career pastor; and there were many days when in the face of direct and indirect challenges, I had to fall back on Paul’s words as a source of encouragement, “For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.” My previous career in corporate systems development was very rewarding financially, but being convinced of God’s call and commission to an ecclesiastical life, leaving those financial rewards behind was relatively easy, even if it was not my original choice of career.

In other words, Paul is clear that his apostleship was not a matter of choice, but a divine commission. As such, he is willing to give up any benefits that he has accrued because of his identity and position in order to be faithful to the gospel that he has been called to proclaim. But there is more than personal sacrifice involved in Paul’s testimony. His willingness to “become all things to all people” is so that all might have the full benefit of the saving grace of God offered through Jesus Christ. It offers a vision of the beloved community that the church is meant to become. Paul is not concerned with a legalistic representation or even morality that supports a particular social construct. His focus is offering the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people equally, so that each and every person claims his/her rightful and free share in the blessings that Christ offers to everyone. That is also the focus for the preacher of this text. In fact, the preacher should be convinced of this call and commission in order to offer the gospel message faithfully to all people, regardless of their situation or location.

In this month that celebrates Black History, that is an important and welcome message for African Americans; and it should be for all people who are given a subordinate status in a world where white male normativity has been claimed by U.S. society. The language of slavery that Paul uses may be problematic to African Americans, given the history of slavery in the USA. However, contrary to the oppression and injustice that were part and parcel of that hegemonic servitude, Paul willingly submits the rights of his individualism so that he could justly respond to and engage others based on their particular situation. The purpose and result of Paul’s action and that of all who seek to offer the gospel of Christ is total transformation of individuals into the image of Christ for the sake of freedom for people. It is the gospel message of Christ that gives new life and blessings to preacher and people through the gospel.

Jesus has come from the synagogue where an unclean spirit has broadcast his identity as “the Holy one of God.” As scholars have noted, in Mark’s gospel Jesus’ identity seems to be hidden only from the disciples and this early recognition by an unclean spirit soon becomes typical as Jesus moves through the towns and cities. There is a theme of restoration that runs like a thread through the lectionary readings for this week. It is made visible in this gospel text as Jesus cures many who demonstrated physical, mental, or spiritual representations of diseases. Given that such people were sidelined or separated from their culture and community, Jesus’ action of healing meant their restoration to community and perhaps more importantly to its worship life.

For those who have been relegated to the sidelines or who have been denied equal access to their God-given rights as human beings, such as African Americans in the present U.S. culture, Jesus’ action of restoration is a welcome theme for gospel preachers. Jesus is clear that his message is not intended for a selected few, but that it must be proclaimed wherever people are in need of healing and restoration – and that is everywhere. And although it seems strange that Jesus “would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him,” perhaps, as it has been often suggested, Jesus was trying to avoid the adulation of the crowds because of his action, but instead wanted the credit to go rightfully to God.

Similarly, God calls us to do the work that brings transformation in a way that keeps the gospel message central and directs the praise and glory to God – not to our actions. Human transformation and healing comes only from God. Those of us who are called to proclaim and to engage the work of the gospel in a way that touches the lives of those who are on the fringes, the borders, or even outside the boundaries that humans have created to keep some persons and groups outsiden must do so in a way that glorifies God rather that to bring human reward or praise. This text connects with this week’s passage from 1 Corinthians in that the call and commission of the preacher is to proclaim the gospel message in a way that invites transformation to individual lives, to the life of the community, and the world.

Resources & Articles

Prayers

God of grace and mercy, you are the source of the true healing that can make us whole. We remember this morning that Jesus’ ministry was deeply involved in both healing of people’s bodies and healing of relationships. As we take time now in worship to offer our gifts to you, we pray that they might be used to bring healing – of body, of spirit, of broken relationships – to people who are in desperate need. We pray this in the holy Jesus’ name. Amen. (Mark 1:29-39)